“Hi, I’m back…did you miss me?”
Once upon a time (the mid-to-late ’10s), The X Factor was pumping out mega-star after mega-star.
Season 5 of the UK series was no exception, supplying us with the boy band JLS, the reigning winner Alexandra Burke (who could famously do it in Broken Heels, and was the first person to bring the phrase “elephant in the room” over from America), and of course, Diana Vickers.
Diana largely stood out in the competition because of her voice, which proved divisive: her Ellie Goulding-meets-Dolores O’Riordan-esque rasp and occassionally unintelligible, cursive style of singing wasn’t for everyone, but it still brought her all the way to fourth place.
She would go on to release her debut album Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree in 2010, which went in at No. 1 in UK, and supplied us with the still-incredible Cathy Dennis co-write “Once” (also a No. 1 hit), and the stunning “The Boy Who Murdered Love.”
A few years later, she returned with Music to Make the Boys Cry. While it didn’t make as much of a splash on the charts, the quality never faltered, supplying gorgeous electro-pop a la Kylie Minogue alongside big names in pop, like Xenomania‘s Miranda Cooper.
And then, it all stopped. Well, she didn’t stop, but the music did for a long while. Diana moved on to become a West End star, did some acting in TV shows and movies as well, and even launched a comedy duo, Ki and Dee.
Fast forward 12 years.
“Hi, I’m back. Did you miss me?” Diana declares off the top of “Ice Cream,” a sugary-sweet sonic treat that arrived out of nowhere on Friday (August 22).
The surprise reboot of Diana Vickers’ pop star career provides plenty of wink-wink fun, right in time for the last few, sweat-drenched weeks of summer. It’s a cute, campy affair, or as the official release calls it, “a tongue-in-cheek pop bop, swirls, sass and synths nodding to her early hits while embracing her queer fanbase and dancefloor roots.”
Produced by Dee Adams and James Earp, the song’s got nonsense lyrics galore (“Baby, I won’t kiss and tell / Have you seen Emmanuelle? / Je t’ai vu at the hotel“), Carly Rae Jepsen adjacent hooks, something about a ’99 ice cream machine, and innuendo aplenty: “I’m melting into your mouth, cherry flavored freak out” – a Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree reference, surely.
“It’s time to melt, babes. I’m here to serve – and yes, I mean ice cream. Summer’s arrived, and I’m answering with sprinkles,” Diana declares.
What a fun surprise! And to answer your question, Diana: yes, I surely did. Here’s hoping this only a taste of more to come.
Listen to the MuuTunes playlist on Spotify…
Photo credit: HAWK Publicity
